SBH Maxorata Resort

"An honest review based on our experience at the hotel. We have just left after a 2 week holiday (13-27 June). When we went into Tui, we didn’t plan on booking this hotel but not being able to guarantee rooms together at Tui Magic Life, we switched as my adult son has medical issues and a LD so we need rooms close together. After booking I looked on Trip Advisor and was ever so slightly horrified, we know people like a good moan but it’s usually a mixed bag, these were 90% awful. I panicked but joined a couple of fb groups and was reassured, hotel lovely, food not so. We find all inclusive food generally hit and miss so this didn’t bother us. Roll forward to arrival. Rooms were ready despite being before check in time but they hadn’t realised we were a party of 3 (??) so ours rooms weren’t on same floor! I explained our situation and that I had emailed twice regarding this (both unanswered) and the reception staff were great, sorted rooms a few doors apart. They were so friendly and helpful. The rooms; as solo occupancy were side seats views, we booked 2 of these to ensure in same location. We were 845 and 841 overlooking wasteland and towards the Occidental hotel but a lovely view of the sea and as so set back, very private. The room itself was exceptionally clean and modern, a bit tired in places but aren’t most hotels here and there. Nothing of any concern. The bathroom was lovely with big walk in shower. The shower was lovely, never any issues with temp or pressure. Housekeeping were lovely, spoke every morning and the room was always really clean. The hotel; absolute massive and took a day or two to find our feet, pretty sure there were parts we never saw. Didn’t find the onsite shop until a week in, but found this expensive compared to Spar and Supermarket which were only a short walk outside hotel. We found the hotel to be modern and always clean, again tatty and tired in places but this never impacted our holiday or enjoyment. Pools; really lovely. I only went in the infinity pool due the dept as others were 7ft+ but it was lovely, definitely got warmer as the days went by and a much welcome cool down. Our son swam in the other pools and said these were also lovely and much quieter. The sunbeds were so spread out, you weren’t on top of each other and the areas always kept clean. There were def no sunbed wars, beds available all day. Staff; I would say 95% of the staff were smiley and friendly. They work so hard and such long hours. Animation; great fun. You can tell they love their jobs, always chatting with guests. Our son loves the daytime activities and always joins in. They were absolutely brilliant with him. Food; we always do all inclusive holidays and appreciate that food can get a bit repetitive but this was by far the worst food/choice we have ever encountered, most definitely not 4 star. I can’t comment on breakfast or lunch as only went once and wasn’t impressed. The evening food was awful, repetitive and very often the meats were cold. We saw lasagna once and meatballs about 6 times! There was no themed nights and what really annoyed and upset us was that the 2 à la carte restaurants were closed. We queried this with reception and apparently this was due to low occupancy! What about being fair to the paying guests there. We booked this hotel purely based on daytime activities and extra restaurants as 14 days of buffet food can get bit hard going. We spoke numerous times to reception about this, but management just don’t care. Our Tui rep logged an official complaint from them as they didn’t realise the restaurants were closed. This hotel has the potential to be amazing. It’s in a lovely location, a short walk to the beach, shops and restaurants but food is an important part of the holiday and even my non fussy husband struggled. We ate out 4 times just to get something decent and hot. We noticed some improvement on our last few days so occupancy must have been improving or they were just getting too many complaints 🤷‍♀️ but the à la carte restaurants remained shut. Would we return? Area- yes potentially. Hotel - definitely not Would we recommend? No - the food was just too awful and we’d prefer a hotel where management want to give all paying guests the same experience"

"We were horrified by how the customers are treated by the waiters, bartenders. Although we paid a lot for all inclusive, we felt like an intruder, we were bothering the staff because we were there. All compliments for the chefs, for the diversity of the dishes, for the kindness of the receptionists, from cleaners.It would be ideal if the staff were trained on the rules of hospitality."

"Extremely disappointing. We visited Maxorata last year and the place is falling apart unfortunately. The hotel was refurbished almost a decade ago and it appears that it hasn't been touched ever since. Jorge at reception is lovely and said they only have 1/3 occupancy and it's very quiet. But, while at reception, it became apparent that they place people in the worst rooms and then offer better ones for €15-50 extra per night. To top that you have to pay €4.50 a day just to use the room safe!! Our rooms are outdated and in desperate need of an upgrade. There's waste left in corridors and has been there since yesterday. A hotel should ideally want to have happy customers so they come back again. Unfortunately we won't be coming back here again. SBH management should focus on customer care and quality instead of a quick profit."